107.7 FM The Bronc will broadcast live from the Philadelphia Flower Show

Student-run radio station offers the only live broadcast at the week-long event

By

Aimee LaBrie

02/19/2014

This is the second year in a row The Bronc will broadcast live from the Philadelphia Flower Show.

From hardcore horticulturists to rose enthusiasts, the annual Philadelphia Flower Show attracts more than 260,000 people from across the country each year. And on opening day, as it did in 2013, 107.7 The Bronc, Rider’s all student-run radio station, will be the only station broadcasting live on Saturday, March 1, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., from the center of the showroom floor.

John Mozes, general manager of the radio station, sees this as an opportunity for students to get real world exposure at one of the most popular and well-attended events in the country. “It’s a great experience for the students to put on a live show with thousands of people listening and walking by — it helps them not only learn how to broadcast effectively, but also how to develop the soft skills that are part of the business, like managing clients and sponsors,” he says.

On Saturday, the four shows that will be broadcast are almost exclusively student-run or student produced. Turfs Up, a show about outdoor living, lawn care and maintenance, hosted by Darren Gruner and produced by Jake Tuff ’15 will air at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Your Pet Matters, produced by Fatima Heyward ’15, will air at 10 a.m. with Dr. Michael Tokiwa, the owner and operator of The Animal Hospital at Kingston and Blawenburg.

Sustainable You, a student hosted and produced show about ways to live your life a little greener, will be broadcast at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. It’s hosted by Katie Lassiter ’15, Meghan Korb ’17 and Emily Mazzio ’14.

At noon, two alumni, Margarita Leahy ‘09 and Ian Smith’12, will air Inside Your Mind, a show that focuses on issues from mental health to addiction. In honor of the flower show, they will discuss the psychological impact of flowers, as well as interviewing people and players involved in the flower show.

“Students manage everything,” Mozes says. “They pool the questions prior to interviews, take care of all pre and post production, update the station website, and manage social networking before, during and after the broadcast.”

He also notes the bigger picture for the station and for students. “Being in Philadelphia gives the station incredible exposure and provides an amazing learning experience for students, who are doing everything from working with the communications director, to honing their interviewing skills, to figuring out the overall social media strategy for the day of our broadcast.”

Listeners can tune in online at The Bronc website or download one of the two free apps by searching for WRRC1 or WRRC2 on iTunes and Google Play. The radio station will be live tweeting using the hash tag #BroncsFlower for those who would like to participate.

Held from March 1 through March 9 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, thePhiladelphia Flower Show is the longest-running and biggest indoor flower show in the world. This year, the theme is “ARTiCulture, where Art Meets Horticulture.”